Feb 8, 2019

‘’The study found that the gut microbes were responsible for producing 20 percent to 80 percent of the circulating toxic metabolites derived from the three drugs.

People sometimes suffer toxic side effects from drugs that help many others. Yale scientists have identified a surprising explanation—the gut microbiome.

The research, published Feb. 8 in the journal Science, describes how bacteria in the gut can transform three drugs into harmful compounds.

“If we can understand the microbiome’s contributions to drug metabolism, we can decide which drugs to give to patients or even alter the microbiome so patients have a better response,” said co-lead author Michael Zimmermann, postdoctoral fellow in the lab of senior author Andrew Goodman in the Department of Microbial Pathogenesis and the Microbial Sciences Institute.